﻿Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, Taylor Reardigan discovered her love for Irish dancing as a wee toddler. By the age of 6 she was training with the renowned Mattierin School of Irish Dancing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she would spend the next 10 years of her life training for several hours a day, five days a week. When considering Taylor Reardigan’s extreme dedication for the sport at such a young age one might assume that becoming a professional Irish dancer was always one of her goals, but the truth is, her passion for the sport was sparked by something much more organic, true love. “I was too young to know that I could do something with it professionally, but what I do know is that I fell in love with it and that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life,” says Reardigan. By the age of 14 Reardigan had already made it to most difficult competition in Irish dance, the World Irish Dancing Championships, a competition that is so distinguished that only 1 % of Irish dancers in the world have the opportunity to compete. “My favorite thing I’ve done as a dancer has been going to the World Irish Dancing championships. An Irish dancer works ridiculously hard to make it to the world championships and to have all my hard work finally pay off was the most amazing feeling in the world,” says Reardigan. Over the course of her career as an Irish dancer, Reardigan has travelled across the globe to Ireland, Scotland, London, Vancouver, Toronto, Nashville, Florida, Kelowna, Edmonton, California, Saskatoon, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Boston as an Irish dance competitor. Her ability to conquer both the soft and hard shoe dances with unbelievable grace, accuracy and speed make her a challenging opponent for the world’s top Irish dancers. Over the years Reardigan has garnered multiple awards, among the most notable are the awards for 13th at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Belfast, Ireland and 15th at the World Irish Dancing championships Glasgow, Scotland. She also received several first place awards in national championships, which landed her a competing spot in the open championships, which is the highest level an Irish dance can compete at. Reardigan received the award for 1st place and the title of preliminary champion for the soft shoe dance at the 2008 Comerford Feile na Nollaig competition in Palm Springs, California. “When I placed 1st in Palm Springs that was a very exciting win because it was my last first place I needed to receive to make it to the highest level of Irish dancing which is called the open championships,” said Reardigan. Not only did the award secure her spot in the open championships, but it also allowed her to compete at the World Championships of Irish Dance the following year, and put her on everyone’s radar as one of the toughest competitors in Irish dance. ﻿

Haling from Copenhagen, Denmark, Philip Nielsen is a multi-talented musician who began performing early on in his teenage years with the well-known band PixLips. “PixLips was a reggae/ska band I started with four friends in Denmark. I played bass, as well as did backing vocals,” said Nielsen. “We achieved a lot of great things together. The fact that I got to travel and play shows outside of my own country while still in high school is something that I’m still quite proud of.” Traveling to Germany, Sweden and several other countries throughout Europe, the band PixLips, which consisted of Philip Nielsen on bass, vocalist Morten Nygaard, guitarist Emil Stricker and drummer Bjorn Hardenberg, performed in front of crowds of thousands of fans. PixLips’ EP entitled “Step Right Up” was ranked at number 2 on the Danish iTunes Reggae chart for several weeks in 2006. During that time the group performed with internationally acclaimed acts like Reel Big Fish, Slightly Stoopid and Streetlight Manifesto. Through his work with PixLips, Nielsen became known for his ability to play funky flowing bass lines that gave the band it’s ‘bounce’ and made audiences move their feet. “Playing a lot of punk music early on has given me good chops and stamina combined with performance skills that are needed when playing long sets,” explained Neilsen. “The ska and reggae elements have given me a strong sense of rhythm, and most importantly an appreciation for the musicians I play with.” For Neilsen the inclination towards a music driven life seems to runs in his bloodline as he was born to parents who are both talented musicians as well. While today Nielsen is renowned for his music stylings on bass, upright bass and synth keys, his musical journey began long ago at a time when most of his peers were still learning to walk and wrap their heads around the ins and outs of potty training. “As a toddler I was always dancing to my dad’s old Motown records. Those records have great bass lines and I think that is where I found the inspiration to start playing bass,” said Nielsen. “I started playing the piano at a very young age, but convinced my parents I should start playing bass after I heard Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by the Beatles.” After finding great success with the band PixLips, Nielsen went on to form the band It Came From A Lab, a progressive punk trio with which he travelled all over Denmark and Sweden as well. Philip Neilsen currently lives in Los Angeles, California where he plays with the bands Swarming Orchids and Grit. While his newest projects have more of a rock influence, Nielsen is still incredibly passionate about his love for the ska & punk genres. “As a teenager I began listening to a lot of punk, reggae and ska, which are some of the music styles I hold dearest. Whether it’s a fast, high-energy punk song or a reggae tune with a heavy bass line, these styles always bring out my inner teenager, and put me in a good mood.”

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Kelsey Oluk discovered her place on the stage at a very young age. A naturally energetic kid who first found her love for performing through dance, this young talent can now be found in an astonishing variety of projects where she takes on the role of actress, dancer, choreographer, writer and producer. Kelsey Oluk began her career as an actress for film and television in the award-winning film Ivadelle, which was directed by Nicole Dorsey and won best narrative short at the RiverRun International Film Festival. Shortly after Ivadelle, Oluk landed the starring role of Kim in the horror film Kennyville, which was directed by Brooks Hunter who is known for his films Happy Now, American Descent, Prepped for Life, Bed & Breakfast, and more.The film begins with the mysterious disappearance of Oluk’s character Kim who is taken by a pseudo mad scientist and businessman named Adrian Black. After being ripped from the reality she knows viewers witness Oluk’s character undergo a series of transformations that are as drastic as they are frightening.“[Kim] was probably the strangest character I’ve ever played,” admits Oluk. “She is brainwashed completely, has no attachment to her past and follows every word of her captor.”As the film progresses viewers find out that Kim’s kidnapper Adrian has ties to a huge organization, which contracts him to produce brainwashed assassins. “It was interesting to play a character that is now at the whim of another being, I approached it as if she had the naiveté of a child, she doesn’t know any better than following his every word,” says Kelsey Oluk. Starring alongside Michael Scratch from Werewolves: The Dark Survivors, Anchor Baby, Perfect Game and the television shows Flashpoint, Nikita, and Forbidden Science, as well as Vanessa Broze from Anything Goes and The Devil in Me, and Dany Gehshan from Zombie Werewolves Attack!,Cold Blood and The Black Mamba, Kelsey Oluk’s performance in Kenneyville is a testament to her ability to play dynamic and challenging characters with the utmost believability.Something that separates Oluk from most other actresses is the way she is able to get in tune with her body and create specific mannerisms and movements with subtlety within her characters, an ability Oluk developed through dance. “Dancing is the perfect compliment to acting. With dancing you really get in tune with your body because it is your main form of expression. It brings a very natural physicality to acting,” explains Oluk.As a dancer, Oluk has performed in countless music videos and stage performances including Feist’s video for the hit song “1234” which was also used by Apple in one of their iPod Nano commercials, as well as “Do It In The Dark” by The Balconies, “You Got It” by George Leach, and many more.

With a passion for the natural, untouched and candid essence of her subjects, photographer Emma McIntyre doesn’t rely on the use of heavy lighting, Photoshop, or other effects to get the shot she wants, instead her creative eye and passion for photography is geared more towards revealing the subtleties that others miss in everyday life. "For all my subjects - interiors, people, still life/ food - I prefer to use natural light and try to communicate the brief moment of pause - before words are spoken, spaces are entered, still life is changed,” explained McIntyre. “Ideally I am striving to capture a subtle emotion, something that appears in the in between moments which can be awkward and beautiful.” Originally from Toronto, Canada, Emma McIntyre began her career as a professional photographer over a decade and a half ago, however she discovered her love for the art form much earlier. “We always had cameras lying around the house because my dad was a hobbyist photographer, as was his father. I inherited a Pentax Spotmatic when I was 16 and fell in love with the whole process,” recalled McIntyre.

Today photos by Emma McIntyre can be found in a long list of publications like Rolling Stone, Nylon, The New York Times, Spin, Billboard, SELF China, Elle Malaysia, Elle Canada and many more.

Through her work with Toronto-based video magazine The Seventh Art, McIntyre has had the opportunity to shoot an incredible list of celebrity portraits with film icons like Whit Stillman, Peter Bogdanovich, Andrew Bujalski, Christopher Doyle, Xavier Dolan and Paul Schrader.

“I was especially excited to photograph Peter Bogdanovich as I was a huge Sopranos fan and I think he has such an iconic look,” explained McIntyre. “I had about two seconds to capture a portrait of him between takes and he just stared deep into the barrel of the lens and gave me an image that I just love.”

Director Peter Bogdanovich by Emma McIntyre

Some of her other celebrity photographs include subjects such as Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy, Canadian folk singer Basia Bulat, actresses Diane Keaton, Jodi Balfour, Carlyn Burchell, Ali Liebert, and actor Woody Harrelson.

In addition to photographing international celebrities, McIntyre is also known for her work as a unit stills photographer where she uses her skills to capture images for the publicity of films, television shows and documentaries.

“I’ve worked on a number of television shows including Curious and Unusual Deaths, Inventions That Shook The World, Rescue Mediums, Totally Amp’d and Million Dollar Critic as well as films such as Everyday is Like Sunday and Diamond Tongues (currently in post-production),” said McIntyre.The images captured by Emma McIntyre and other unit stills photographers in the industry are a vital factor in the success of a film or television project as their shots are often the first ones potential viewers encounter. While this area of work undoubtedly requires a skilled photographer with immense creativity, the additional demands that accompany working on set causes many photographers to either shy away or be incapable of handling the role. In spite of their pursuit of the perfect shot, unit stills photographers must work around several different departments in order to ensure they aren’t interfering with the production, a feat McIntyre continually accomplishes with ease and grace.

“It can be a fun collaboration with the producers/ directors when conceptualizing what will work for publicity images,” explained McIntyre. “I like the TV and film world because it always takes you to places you wouldn’t expect and especially in the more documentary type of television you have an opportunity to encounter interesting experts and perspectives.”